


Roadie

by petersnotkingyet



Series: Love is Blind (and so is Kenny) [2]
Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: AU, Anxiety, Blind Character, Blind!Kent, Disabled Character, Fluff, Healthy Relationships, Kit Purrson - Freeform, M/M, Mentions of Swoops, Stimming, mentions of jack
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-23
Updated: 2017-05-23
Packaged: 2018-11-03 22:13:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,262
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10976385
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/petersnotkingyet/pseuds/petersnotkingyet
Summary: Alexei's on a roadie, but he's always there when Kent needs him.





	Roadie

Kent didn’t have a service dog.  He’d had one growing up.  Gracie had been with him from second grade to his sophomore year of college.  When she died, he’d cried like crazy, and he wasn’t sure he’d ever want another dog after her.  He did have Kit though.

Kit had come into his life by sheer luck.  Kent had been walking from the bus stop into his apartment and barely heard the mewling over the sound of rain and cars.  He’d FaceTimed Jeff to get him to confirm it was a cat before wrangling the kitten inside.  Pets weren’t allowed in the apartment he’d been living in at the time, so he’d smuggled her in under his coat.  She’d clawed him the whole time, but within a few days they’d come to an understanding.  Kent moved into an apartment that allowed pets, and Kit stuck around.

She was good company.  They both liked having their own space and coming together when they felt like it.  Kent’s mom had worried that he would trip on her, so Kent put a bell on her collar.  It hadn’t been a problem.  The only problem was Kit’s tendency to settle down somewhere where Kent couldn’t find her.

“Kenny, phone is moving too much,” Alexei said.  Kent pulled his arm holding the phone in close so he could wrap his other arm around it and himself.  He was still rocking slowly, but he wasn’t shaking so bad.  FaceTime really was a gift.  Alexei was good about answering whenever Kent needed him to, but the background noise on the Falconers’ bus made it hard to hear him.  “Okay.  Kotenok is not in bedroom.  Take me to bathroom now.”

While Kent walked between the rooms, he heard Alexei smacking his seatmate and lecturing the other man for being too loud while he was talking to Kenny.  Normally, it would have made Kent laugh, but he was too out of it to properly enjoy Alexei.  Nothing had worked out all day.  Work had been piss poor, he’d burned himself cooking, and Alexei was on a roadie.  When Kent realized the front door hadn’t shut all the way behind him when he got home—over an hour ago—and he couldn’t find Kit, the anxiety that had been building overflowed.

“Ah! There she is!” Alexei said.  “In bathtub.  Opposite end from faucet.”

Rather than try to balance Kit and the phone, Kent climbed into the bathtub next to her.  Kit rubbed her head against his knee, and Kent carded his free hand through her fur.  Through the phone, Kent could faintly hear Alexei tell his seatmate to go sit with Zimmboni.

“Sorry,” Kent said.  “Today was just rough, and I freaked out when I couldn’t find her.”

“I’m not minding help find Kit,” Alexei said.  “Just wishing I was there to make rough day better.”

“You did,” Kent said.  Alexei scoffed.

“Swoops could have done FaceTime.  I mean make better boyfriend way,” he said.

“Oh yeah?” Kent said, laughing a little.  “And what would that be?”

“Cook dinner,” Alexei said.  “Make you put away work you bring home.  Pick a movie but fall asleep during.”

“You’re quite the salesman,” Kent said.  He’d paused his petting, so Kit butted her head into his palm to remind him.

“Mhm,” Alexei hummed.  “But I must do duty.”

“Your hockey duty?”

“Yes, exactly,” Alexei said.  “Hockey duty.  Without me, Falconers suffer.  Falconers suffer, community lose morale.  Community lose morale, economic downturn.”

“Economic downturn, wow,” Kent said.  “That sounds pretty serious.”

“It is,” Alexei said.  Whether it was because he could tell Kent had stopped shaking or because he was pleased he was playing along, Alexei sounded cheerful.  “But tomorrow afternoon, I will be home to fall asleep during movie.”

“And cook dinner?” Kent said.  “I was promised dinner.”

“Maybe takeout,” Alexei said, and Kent laughed.

“Alright,” he said.  “I’ve got to go cook myself dinner.  You guys must be nearly there by now.”

“Zimmboni says ten more minutes,” Alexei said.

“Good luck,” Kent said.  “I’ll be listening.”

Alexei made a dismissive noise.  “Go use bathbomb instead,” he said.  “I’m not minding if you relax.”

“Maybe I’ll do both,” Kent teased.  “I love you.”

“Love you too, solnishko.  I’ll call after game.”

“Alright,” Kent said.  “Bye, ‘Lexei.”

“Bye, Kenny.”

Careful not to disturb Kit, Kent climbed out of the bathtub and headed to the kitchen.  Despite his efforts, Kit followed him to beg for food while he cooked.  He listened to a podcast while he ate and had just enough time to wash his dishes before the Falconers’ game started.  They lost narrowly, but Alexei still sounded cheerful enough when he called rom the hotel.

“How was dinner?” Alexei asked.

“Good,” Kent said.  “I made stir fry.”

Alexei was tired from the game, so they didn’t stay on the phone long.  Even so, there was an article about Alexei’s post-game interview by the time they hung up.  Since Alexei had first talked about him to Buzzfeed, Kent came up in a lot of his interviews.  Most of them were ridiculous, which Kent suspected was because Alexei knew it made him laugh.  Kent settled into bed with Kit and his phone before hitting play on the article’s audio.

_The world of disability rights has found an unlikely activist in Alexei Mashkov.  Over the course of the current season, Mashkov, a defenseman for the Providence Falconers, has begun speaking out about accessibility issues prevalent in our society.  Mashkov credits his boyfriend Kent Parson for his knowledge and interest, often referencing him when speaking to press._

_Mashkov’s activism has already seen results.  Earlier in the season, he spoke to Buzzfeed News about Parson’s fondness of the site despite the lack of audio descriptions on image-based quizzes and articles.  Since then, Buzzfeed has begun utilizing such descriptions._

_After last night’s game, Mashkov spoke about self-stimulatory behavior—known vernacularly as stimming._

The audio quality and the speaker switched.  Kent recognized Alexei instantly.

_“Lots of reasons for stimming—autism, anxiety, lots others.  Kenny stims.  Sometimes, brain is getting too much or not enough information, so flapping hands or rocking lets brain get information and control what kind.  Makes feel better.”_

There wasn’t much else to the interview.  Kent texted the link to Swoops, put his phone on the charger, and went to sleep.  When Alexei called again in the morning, they were five minutes into the conversation before Kent thought to mention the article.

“So how’d that come up anyways?” Kent asked.  He and Alexei had talked before about how much they were both comfortable with being discussed in public.  Neither of them had put much off limits, but the fact that they’d had the conversation made Kent feel faintly proud.

“Little girl in crowd, trying to leave.  People were bumping into, and she was rock star,” Alexei said.  Kent smiled at the term.  ‘Self-stimulating behavior’ was a mouthful for Alexei, so ‘being a rock star’ had become his affectionate term for Kent.  “I show her and family quieter way out.  Reporter ask why.”

“That was good of you to notice,” Kent said.

“Is benefit to being tall,” Alexei said.  Kent could hear the smile in his voice and the other guys on the bus chirping him.  “Can see over everybody.”

“Well, I’ve got to get ready for work,” Kent said reluctantly.  “I’ll see you tonight, though.”

“Have good day,” Alexei said.  “I’m getting home before you know it.”

“I love you,” Kent said.

“Love you too, Kenny,” Alexei said.  “Bye.”

“Bye,” Kent said.  He was still grinning when he hung up.


End file.
